The Combat System
For a list of all the spells in the model, go here. For information on the spell casting and learning system, go here. For information on the Stat System, go here. In many occasions one may find themselves having to defend themselves in a duel, formal or otherwise. When such situations arise, the following rules must be adhered to. Basics To start off, the combat system requires understanding the spell casting system, and the stat system. Without understanding those two, one will not be able to understand the following guide. This section will serve as a basic guide for most players. The basics of combat in the Model can be summarized as a turn-based game. Where each player will be allowed a turn or a round where they can perform one action and one reaction. 'Health Bar' Health Points (HP) is used in duels to figure out the the winner of the fight. The HP bar represents several things, such as magical resistance, physical resistance, motivation, irritation, to name a few.. Each participant starts the fight with an amount of HP equal to their Dice. First Years have 4 Health Points, Second Years have 6 Health Points, and so on. Once a player has zero or below health, they will lose the duel, with very few exceptions. It is assumed that only a spell that reduces a target to 0 hp actually hits the target in such a way that it takes full effect upon them. # Before the duel starts, the players set their HP to the appropriate amount. This happens by typing !hp set (number) # Once you have taken damage, you remove the appropriate HP points by typing !hp remove (number) # If you, for some reason, need to add more health points (maybe you removed a wrong amount of health points), you can do it by typing !hp add (number) 'The C modifier, Actions and Reactions' * ©ombat: Takes away your year modifier. ** This must be used in all instances of combat when one is casting an action '''or a defense-applicable spell, a '''reaction. *** Action spells are used to remove HP points. *** Reaction spells are spells that are used to defend a participant against an action. Spell Effects Some of the spells are listed as "B inflictors" in the bot and spellsheet. This information is ''out of date, ''since the B modifier does not exist anymore. Almost all of the spells that once were B inflictors can be used as an action, but a few are not. We are hoping to update the bot as well as the sheet as soon as possible, but before we do, we recommend you to look at this Combat Spell-master sheet. The sheet is up to date, and shows the spells that can be used as an action or a reaction. * You can also read a spell's description by using the following command on the discord server: !info 'Physical and Psychic attacks' Generally, there are two types of attacks: Physical and''' Psychic. Offensive spells are sorted into these two categories, and a few spells are sorted into both of them. Usually, physical offensive spells cause physical damage/effect to the opponent, while psychic offensive spells cause mental damage/effect to the opponent. However, this isn't always the case, and that's why the spells are defined by '''Willpower and Dodge. * Dodge is formed of two of the stats, Finesse and Vitality. Dodge is used to dodge incoming physical spells. * Willpower is formed of two of the stats, Wisdom and Social. Willpower is used to resist active psychic spells. ** Dodge is pre-effect, willpower is post-effect. You can not use both of them to prevent a successful attack. The previously mentioned Combat Spell master sheet will show you whether the spell is Physical or Psychic. You can usually also check it with the info command, apart from some of the spells. s!dodge s!willpower Dodging and using willpower works similarly to spellcasting: the roll is the number you compare to the Offensive cast. The only difference is that you don't need to use the C modifier to defend yourself if using these two. 'Magical Blocks, Physical Blocks and Dodge Alternatives.' As you can see from the Combat Spell- master sheet, some of the defense-applicable spells have different capabilities. Contego is Magically Blocking, Volvalimo is Physically Blocking, and Ascendio is a Dodge Alternative. What do these mean? Mechanically, they all serve as defensive reactions. One difference between the three can be seen in the roleplaying scene: Magical Blocks are capable of blocking the incoming spell with magic, Physical Blocks are capable of blocking the incoming spells with a physical object or such, and Dodge Alternatives are capable of moving the caster out of the incoming spell's way. 'Escapees (OLD PLAYERS PLEASE READ)' As some of you may have noticed from the Combat Spell- master sheet, some of the spells have a capability of being "Escape-applicable". This is a new method of surviving in a duel without actually needing to hurt anybody! The way Escapees work, is very similar to how Offensive spells work, the only difference being that these spells do not cause any harm to the opponent. Escapees need to have a higher roll than the defensive one, just like the offensive spells. Escapees take away HP points just like the offensive spells, but in this case, the HP bar doesn't represent physical health, but rather vitality, motivation, and so on. Once your Escapee's roll causes the opponent's HP bar to go 0 or under, you can then flee the situation. '''Your opponent is still in full awareness, they are just too exhausted, too far back or not motivated enough to keep on chasing you. You can only defend yourself against an Escapee by Dodging, using Willpower or Magical Blocks. Apparation '''does not fall under these rules. Apparation is absolute: once you've successfully cast it, you are able to flee. 'How the dueling happens' Now that we have learned essential information about the system, we can give an example of an actual duel. The duel begins by rolling initiative, which sorts out the starter of the duel. This initial roll happens by typing "!roll 1d20". The player (1) with the highest initial roll begins the duel by executing an action. The opponent (Player 2) then reacts to the action with a reaction. 'After the reaction, the opponent (Player 2) executes an action. Then the other participant (Player 1) uses their reaction, then executing an action. This goes on until either of the participants have 0 or below HP. 'Losing HP If your opponent has executed their action, it's your turn to execute a reaction. To prevent HP loss, your reaction's roll has to be equal or higher than the Action's roll. If the reaction is lower than the action, you'll lose HP points. If the action's roll was 8, and your reaction's roll was 6, you'd lose 2 Health Points. You need to subtract your reaction's roll from the action's roll to figure out if/how many HP points you will lose. If you are on mobile, please click the photos for full image. As you can see, Player 2's reaction's roll was higher (or equal to) than Player 1's Action's roll, meaning Player 2 does not lose HP. Player 2 may now continue by executing their action. As you see, Player 1's reaction roll was not equal or higher than Player 2's action's roll. Player 1 now needs to remove 5 HP by doing the "!hp remove 5" command. If their HP bar is now 0 or below, they have now lost they duel. If their HP bar is still 1 or higher, they may normally execute an action towards Player 2. The duel goes on until either of the participants have 0 HP or less. Only Shield spells (The Protego and Praesidio lines) and the Fly commands last past the initial attack that triggered their casting as a reaction, lasting until the start of the caster's next turn. As such, Shield spells are crucial for surviving against multiple opponents. 'Ending a Fight' There are two ways to end a fight: * Reducing all participants on one side to 0 or below HP. * Running away from the fight with Apparition or other Escape Spells. 'After the Fight' * If you were affected by a spell that causes long lasting effects, such as 'Petrificus Totalus' or 'Colovaria', you will hold onto those effects until dispelled. ** This can be done by going to the #hospital-wing or with the aid of a student with 'Finite Incantatem'. * If you are unable to find a student or a healer, after a 10 minute time period, you are assumed to have been aided by a professor, healer and/or older student. ---- Advanced 'Methods of dueling' There are two types of combat scenarios: * Planned Duels, which are duels that were organised and planned beforehand. These types of duels must be discussed and agreed upon with all of the participants. Planned Duels can change the formal rules, and examples of such changes are: ** One can have more than one action or a reaction per turn. ** One can lose more or less HP after getting hit by a spell than they normally would. ** The whole duel is executed without bots. NOTE! This requires detailed discussions between the participants. You also cannot cast spells that your character normally couldn't. * Regular Combat, which are fights that occur randomly. Formal Rules apply to these duels. 'Healing' Healing spells can be used in combat to revive downed players. Physical healing spells can be used to partially heal the damage from dodge-applicable spells, whilst mental healing spells can be used to partially heal the damage from willpower-applicable spells. Spells with the Untransfigurable tag can only be healed by Transfiguration healing spells. To use a healing spell in combat, one must cast a healing spell on a downed target as an action, maintaining concentration on the spell until their next turn. If the caster successfully maintains concentration and again casts the healing spell successfully on this next turn, the target is revived with a small amount of HP depending on the spell used. This is a complex process and maintaining concentration should be roleplayed as difficult, particularly whilst also dodging or using willpower to overcome an enemy attack. Healing spells cannot be used if the downed target was downed by a Dark spell, or if the target wishes to have the injuries sustained from the downing attack be too severe for combat healing to be applicable. You can only be revived by a healing spell once per fight. List of Physical Heals Episkey: Restores 2 HP Salutem Restituo: Restores 5 HP List of Mental Heals Expedio: Restores 2 HP Surgito: Restores 5 HP List of Transfiguration Heals Ostendem: Restores 2 HP Homorphus: Restores 5 HP Non-Verbal Combat Beginning from GradA, you are assumed to be proficient enough with Non-Verbal Magic to be able to cast it in combat, gaining a significant advantage against foes incapable of the same. When casting an attack, evasion, shield or escape spell with the 'v' modifier in combat, you no longer need to use the 'c' modifier. If you successfully applied for Early Non-Verbal Casting, this benefit instead unlocks at the start of seventh year. Special Spells and Abilities Full details on special abilities can be found in the Ars Arcanum. Below is the basic knowledge required for using these abilities in combat. Dark Magic * Certain spells will be tagged as 'Dark', these spells can inflict cursed wounds, that may never heal, or may be fatal. Because of this, all Dark spells will require OOC consent to be used on another player. * Dark magic spells require special permission to learn; check out the Ars Arcanum for more information. Dual-Wanding * When initiating combat you can adopt the dual-wanding stance, giving you an additional action on your turn. ** This action can be used to target a second enemy combatant at the cost of placing you at the end of the initiative order. ** You may start off in a normal duelling stance and swap to your dual-wanding stance, however this will take up a reaction. * You can also use your wands to concentrate on two concentration spells at once, as long as neither extends a DC of 10. Elemental Magic * Several spells listed on the Ars Arcanum may be aesthetically changed to match the element, however, they will not gain additional mechanical effects. * Light Elementals may cast Lumos spells of DC5 or lower without using the W''' modifier, even if disarmed. '''Physical Empowerment Magic * In combat, you may roll s!vitality and take half the roll as an attack. This counts as a action and can be used in place of a spell. Trace Projection * Trace Projection has no mechanical impact on combat, however does have several cosmetic implications. ** Whilst Trace Projection allows the visuals of a spell to be changed to match the casters trace, they will always remain recognisable to those who know the spell, thus not making any difference to character's ability to distinguish what it does. Wand Affinity * Players with Wand Affinity can trust their bonds with their Wand to shield them from certain disaster. Once per combat, when the damage from an attack attack would reduce your HP to zero, you may choose to have your wand come to your defense, negating the damage dealt by the attack. Combat Examples '1 vs. 1' '1 vs. 1 vs. 1' '1 vs. 2' Category:OOC Articles Category:Handbook Article Category:Bot Systems